Poems, Notes, and Drawings

Canvas 592 — To the Child

You’ve just sailed into the harbor. This is your face.And this is the face of all who are glad you are here.Do you see she is a he is a we with a tear?

Canvas 592 — November 18, 2015

To the Child

So much strife, rooted in the idea of ownership — in the idea that “this land is your land, this land is my land.” But this land, this earth, this space, this universe, belongs to no one, and the waving of flags and the defending of borders shows just how little we understand ourselves and our relationship with the world and its beautiful, diverse inhabitants — fellow creatures killed for sport, elephants for ivory, men, women, and children for their color, their religion, their oil. Before a border can come into being, it must exist in your mind. You must believe it is there. You must tell yourself, over and over, or be told, that those living on the other side of this make-believe barrier are so different from you that they must stay on their side and you must stay on yours. But this is utter nonsense. Because you have not done your own investigation, you have created and accepted the difference. And this has tragic consequences, as we daily see. To me, it is a beautiful thing when a child from the neighborhood wanders into the yard, led by a cat or butterfly, and then begins looking about. There is a lesson in this, and it is the simplest one of all: to the child, everywhere is home. And now I must confess, that although I wear the body of an adult, what a child knows, I have never outgrown. And what does a child know? Love, for all. So go ahead. Spank me. Or laugh. It hasn’t worked yet. It never will.

NOTA BENE

As a Category, “Everything and Nothing” is roughly equivalent to “Marginalia,” but with an added twist: it’s the name of a book written by Ross Freeman, the hero of my unpublished novel, The Smiling Eyes of Children.

community

Small Flat Stone, Handpainted

A confident, nattily-dressed frog smoking a fat cigar, by Glen Ragsdale (1955-1974). Title: “Billy.” Signed by the artist. On granite, about half an inch thick, worn smooth by the Kings River in California.

Signature For The Old Language — 2013

Drawing for the New Revised Edition.Stories, Poems, and Memoir in Armenian Translation.